Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan

Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan (JI) is an Islamist political party in Pakistan which was founded on 26 August 1941 by Abul Ala Maududi. Its objective was the transformation of Pakistan into an Islamic state governed by sharia law, and it opposed capitalism, communism, liberalism, socialism, and secularism, as well as economic practices such as offering bank interest. Despite the lack of a popular following, it was a vanguard party, and JI, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), and the Barelvi movement became the major Islamic movements in Pakistan. In 1948, 1953, and 1963, the movement came under severe government repression, but, during Zia-ul-Haq's military regime, it served as the regime's ideological and political arm, and party members held cabinet positions. Despite its initial opposition to Bangladeshi independence, it formed Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami as its Bangladeshi branch.